Hard to believe, but true! Most of the times you use public transport in the Capital, you are at the mercy of a drug addict behind the wheel. The majority of public transport vehicles plying on Delhi roads, especially at night, is driven by drug addicts who care two hoots for the lives of their passengers. Be it an auto-rickshaw driver or a Blueline driver or conductor, they ply their trade on the city’s roads openly under the influence of tranquillisers and sedatives.

According to a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts, nine of 10 substance abuse cases relate to drivers and conductors. “About 90 per cent of the total cases are those of drivers, conductors and other transporters,” said Dr Ved Prakash Singh, the medical officer of Navjyoti India Foundation, a rehabilitation centre run by Delhi Police.

Adding that over-exertion was the main cause for their taking to drugs, Singh said the drivers generally stayed away from homes for long periods and long hours at work urned them into drug addicts. “Sedatives help them feel fresh as they work overnight or nearly 18 hours a day,” he said. Besides consuming liquor, these people were also addicted to narcotic and psychotropic substances, such as smack and opium, which they had easy access to.

Sumble House Rehabilitation Centre director Dr Vijay Kumar said that deprived of proper care and affection, such people get hooked to drugs for the ecstasy and enjoyment that they miss in their daily lives. Moreover, consuming drugs makes them feel rejuvenated at night, he said. “The apathy of vehicle owners towards drivers and conductors and the pressure on the latter to earn a livelihood gets to them and they start taking drugs,” he added. Of the 150 cases registered with the centre, over 100 were those of auto and bus drivers. He, however, clarified that this was not the case with DTC drivers and conductors, as they worked for the stipulated eight hours a day.

Senior police officials in the Capital too admit the fact. “The problem of drug addiction does prevail among most drivers and some such cases have also been registered,” said SN Srivastava, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic). He said the drivers caught under the influence of drugs are penalised under similar Sections as those in the case of drunken driving.

However, the number of prosecutions of drivers using drugs is quite low since it is not easy to identify them, unlike in the case of liquor users, who reek of the substance,” Srivastava added.

As a Blueline driver admitted, drugs provided them with “stamina” to work long hours. “We work over 16 hours a day and sedatives help us beat the physical and mental stress,” he claimed. An auto-rickshaw driver said the vehicle owners did not employ drivers in shifts because that would mean paying more on salaries.